Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



D. LEAVITT.

Breech-Loading Fire-Arm.

- Patented June 14, 1859.

llnirnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL LEAVITT, OF CHIOOPEE, MASSACHUSETTS.

iMPROVEMENT lN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 24,394, dated June 14, 1859.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, DANIEL LEAVIT'l, of (Jhicopee, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Breech-Loading Fire- Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a breechloading gun with my improvement, showing the breech closed. Fig. 2 is a top View of the same, showing the breech thrown open. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the breech.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in the employment, in combination with an upwardly opening breech, of a dog and toe both attached to a lever working under the stock, and so fitted to the breech that by the movement of the lever in one direction the dog is caused to lock the breech in a closed condition, and by its movement in the opposite direction the breech is liberated from the dog and started from its seat, and to a greater or less extent opened by the action of the toe.

To enable others skilled in the art to apply my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the metal breech-frame secured rigidly to the stock, and having screwed into it the barrel B.

G is the breech, of a curved wedge-like form, fitted to a cavity in the breech-frame A, and rigidly attached to or formed of the same piece of metal, with an arm, D, which is hinged at a to the top of the breech-frame some distance in rear of the barrel. This breech, which opens by the upward movement of the arm D on the hinge a, and closes by its downward movement, is provided with a tongue, 1), extending below it, and in the front of this tongue there is a notch, c, to receive the locking-clog.

E is the breech-operating lever, which works on a fulcrum pin, (I, inserted through the breech-frame A, below the breech, said lever having three arms, 6]" g, the arm (2 terminating in a ring, 6, to receive the first or second finger of the left hand of the person using the gun, the arm f terminating in the locking-dog f, and the arm 9, which I have before spoken of as a toe, being situate directly under the breech-cavity. The arms f and g are within the breech-supporter or stock.

F is a small trigger working on a fixed fulcrum, h, secured in the trigger-guard H, and having a tooth, i, which enters a notch or hole in the breech-operating lever and locks said lever when the latter is in a position to lock the breech, said trigger being so arranged as to be capable of being pressed forward by the thumb of the left hand while the first or second finger is in the ring e of said lever E.

G is a spring applied within the triggerguard to act upon the trigger F in such a manner as to press the tooth t toward the lever E.

I is the discharging-trigger, which,with the remainder of the lock,may be of ordinary con struction.

Fig. 1 represents in black outline the breech as being closed and locked by the dog f of breech-operating lever E, and the said lever as being locked by the trigger F. By placing the finger in the ring 6 and the thumb against the trigger F, and pressing them toward each other, the said trigger is first forced forward, and the pin *5 thereby withdrawn from the hole in the lever E, to unlock the said lever, whose lower end is then drawn back by the finger, and the dog f thereby withdrawn from the notch c in the breech, and the toe g after-' ward brought into operation upon the bot tom of the tongue b,and caused to raise the breech far enough, as shown in red outline in Fig. 1, to enable the breech to be laid hold of to throw it right back to the position shown in blue outline in the same figure, to permit the introduction of a cartridge into the chamber of the barrel. \Vhen the cartridge has been inserted, the breech is returned to the position shown in red outline and pressed down upon the toe g with the thumb of the right hand, while the arm 6 of the lever E is moved forward by the left hand, and by that means the catch j", which is properly formed for the purpose, acts in the notch c to draw down the breech tightly against its seat; and when the breech is perfectly closed the tooth i of the trigger slips into the hole or notch provided for it in the lever and looks it securely in place, thus locking the breech.

By reversing the position of the dog f and the toe g, and arranging the notch c in the the samefromits seatto open it by means of a back instead of in the front of the breech, the detached lever having a locking dog, f, to lever E may be applied in the form of a guard enter a notch in the breech, and a toe, g, to to the trigger I, and in that case the locking act against the bottom of the breech, substantrigger F may by dispensedwith by providing tially as herein described.

a suitable catch for the extremity of the lever. T

What I claim as my invention, and desire DAL IDL LEAVITT' to secure by Letters Patent, is \Vitnesses:

Effecting the locking and unlocking of the GEO. M. STEARNS, upward1y-opening breech and the starting of XVILLIAM XV. JOHNSON. 

